Conquest of the Dark Lord

Chapter 4: The Dark Lord's First Battle in the New World

Quickly swallowing his food, the bearded bandit growled, "Kill him!" 

The two twins were a bit miffed that their meal was interrupted, but they channeled that anger as they arose and drew daggers from their belts. They both rushed at Andromedis and swiped at him, but he dodged effortlessly. He leapt at the first twin and kneed him in the face, causing him to fly backwards, tumbling over himself in midair.

"Brother!" the second twin yelled. He brandished his dagger and shouted, "You'll pay for that you- you...!" He was so blinded by rage that he couldn't finish his sentence and he charged at Andromedis.

Expecting another foolish attempt at a strike, Andromedis stepped out of his way and stuck his foot out, tripping him.

The twin fell to the floor, landing face first, and grunting, "Oof," as he made contact with the floor.

The bearded bandit facepalmed as he said, "You two are incompetent. How can you not manage to destroy this fool?"

Andromedis cracked a smile. "I'm the fool now?" he asked. "And here I thought I was called 'Pretty Boy.' Did you already change my name? How could you?" He put on a fake show of being shocked and hurt by the bandit's words which caused the bandit to gain an annoyed expression.

"That cockiness will get you killed Pretty boy," he said in an almost grumbling way.

"Your's will also," Andromedis countered. "Especially if you keep standing in that position."

"What?" The bearded bandit said worriedly, beginning to look at his surroundings.

When he turned his back on Andromedis during his frantic search, Andromedis quickly kicked the nearest chair at him. This in turn made the bearded bandit stumble forward and fall face-first into the boiling pot of stew. An unearthly scream exited the bandit's lips as he wrenched his head out of the pot and covered his blistering face with his hands.

Andromedis grimaced, watching this scene play out and said, "I don't believe I'll eat that soup anymore."

He then heard a noise behind him and whirled around to spot the two twins who had recovered and were ready to continue fighting. Tossing aside their daggars, they grabbed their crossbows from their belts and loaded them, preparing to shoot. They aimed their crossbows at Andromedis and fired, but in three flashes of steel, the scraps of their arrows fell to the floor. This spectacle left the two twins in shocked silence as Andromedis sheathed his katana.

"If you desire to kill me," Andromedis said menacingly. "You'll have to attack me directly." The two twins glanced at each other, then rushed at Andromedis, redrawing their daggers. In response to this, Andromedis got under one's guard, and using the bandit's momentum, tossed him almost effortlessly into a wall. "You call this fighting?" Andromedis asked clearly unimpressed as he dodged the second twin's slash.

"Die pretty boy!" the second twin yelled as he attempted a wild slash at Andromedis's head. Andromedis dodged this strike, and did a rather impressive acrobatic backflip, where he kicked the second twin upside the head as he flipped.

"Are you even taking this seriously?" Andromedis asked, sounding more annoyed than unimpressed as he got back into his ready stance. "Because your showing is pitiful."

"You want us to get serious?" asked a gruff voice behind him. Andromedis turned towards the source of the voice to find the bearded bandit glowering at him.

"Oh my," he said with a pained expression appearing on his face. "You don't look so hot."

The bearded bandit's face was red and blistered from his dip in the soup, and he was clearly not happy about it.